Road safety and sustainability performance: A cross-country analysis

Abstract

In this paper, we study the impact of road safety on sustainability performance in the OECD area. Road safety is proxied by the severity of road accidents, whereas the sustainability performance of each country is captured by its sustainability score. Our dataset covers the period 2000-2021 and consists of 35 OECD countries. The employed panel data analysis unveils a statistically significant negative relationship between the number of severe road crashes and sustainability score. In particular, a unit decrease in the number of deaths per one million inhabitants due to road crashes leads to a half unit increase in the overall sustainability score of a country. Therefore, policy makers should undertake measures that improve the efficiency of the transport system since this translates in higher sustainability performance. Indeed, less severe road crashes do have a positive impact on the economy, the society and the environment, thus contributing to all pillars of sustainable development.